The Israeli parliament voted on Monday in favor of a controversial legal reform proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The law reduces the influence of judges on political decisions. The vote centered around the so-called “reasonability principle.” Under the current law, judges in Israel can overturn government policies if they are deemed “unreasonable.” This occurs, for example, when a proposed …

The Swiss Federal Council has rejected the export licence for Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine. This was announced by the federal government in Switzerland on Wednesday following a request by Swiss arms company Ruag, Reuters news agency reported. The decision may have implications for previously announced deliveries of tanks by the Dutch government to Ukraine. The Federal Council argues that …

Switzerland wants to be climate neutral from 2050. That is the outcome of a referendum in the country. Can’t we ever just pick a climate side? “Other countries do just choose sides. Just look at the last elections in the Netherlands,” said Eurocommissioner Frans Timmermans. “And so India continues to emit a lot of CO2. Not nice for the earth, …

Switzerland’s Social Democratic Party has drawn up a proposal to shrink UBS’s assets following its takeover of Credit Suisse, reports Aargauer Zeitung newspaper. The combined bank will have a balance sheet of about 1.5 trillion Swiss francs – about double the size of the Swiss economy, posing huge risks for the country, especially as the bank enjoys an implicit state …

Despite all the sanctions, many Russian oligarchs are still flying around the world. It was one of the first sanctions imposed by the West as a result of Russian aggression: all private jets of Russian oligarchs would be seized on foreign soil. The US Department of justice hoped to put pressure on Putin’s confidants in this way. In practice, however, …

A special committee of the Swiss parliament is going to investigate in depth the demise of Credit Suisse and the rescue of the bank by the larger Swiss industry partner UBS. Among other things, it will look at the role of the government, the central bank and Switzerland’s financial regulator in the rescue of Credit Suisse in March this year. …

In Switzerland, a majority is slowly but surely emerging in favor of supplying weapons to Ukraine. It is unique to the neutral country. Or does a referendum throw a spanner in the works? Using Swiss Piranha armored vehicles, Saudi Arabia crushed protests in Bahrain in 2011. During that same Arab Spring, Libyan rebels used Swiss ammunition. In Syria, insurgents threw …

Some 7.4 billion Swiss francs in assets and reserves of the Russian central bank are currently ‘locked up’ in Switzerland. This was reported by the Ministry of Economy. The money has been blocked in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since March 25 last year, transactions for the management of reserves and assets of the Russian central bank …

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) on Friday rejected calls from environmentalists to change its investment policy and stop investing in companies they believe pollute the planet. Around a hundred campaigners gathered outside the SNB’s Annual General Meeting in Bern on Friday, securing the event tightly. About 170 protesters also bought shares of the SNB so they could speak out against …

Switzerland has closed its embassy in Khartoum and evacuated staff and their families due to the security situation in Sudan, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said on Twitter. “Our employees and their families have been evacuated and are safe,” Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis tweeted on Sunday. The Foreign Ministry did not say how many people were rescued, but said the evacuees …